In his new position as the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s first resident conductor, Christopher James Lees has a “have-stick-will-travel gig that may take him anywhere from helping Alzheimer’s patients to opening the Summer Pops season June 13,” writes Lawrence Toppman in Tuesday’s (6/5) Charlotte Observer (N.C.). Lees is relocating to Charlotte after two years of teaching and conducting at University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem “and serving as the CSO’s assistant conductor…. ‘Creating this job has been a natural evolution,’ says CSO president and CEO Mary Deissler…. ‘We knew we needed someone on the ground all year.’ … ‘I did 52 performances here in Charlotte last season and 20 elsewhere!’ … he says.… He has handled EarShot, concert readings at Davidson College of works by emerging composers; Healing Hands, a program in tandem with Queens University to study the effects of music on patients with Alzheimer’s Disease … and On Tap, the CSO’s bock-and-Bach offering at NoDa Brewing Company.” EarShot is a program of American Composers Orchestra in partnership with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. “Lees will take over the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and Junior Youth Orchestra this year.” Says Lees, “If you open the right door for the right person at the right time, you will change their world.”
Posted June 7, 2018
